First Odyssey Photos Released.

First Odyssey Photos Released

Image credit: NASA

It's only the first few photographs from Mars Odyssey, but scientists are already excited about what the spacecraft has turned up on the surface of Mars. Odyssey, which began mapping the planet last week, has detected significant amounts of Hydrogen near the planet's south pole. scientists believe this Hydrogen is evidence of water ice - and not just surface frost, but a large quantity of frozen water.

Space shuttle managers are debating whether to end the Space Shuttle Columbia's mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope because one of its two cooling systems isn't working properly. Although the shuttle is equipped with two redundant systems, NASA flight rules demand that the shuttle return to Earth if either completely fail - right now, one is just blocked and not working at full capacity. Mission controllers will make a decision to scrub the mission or keep going Friday evening.

The Space Shuttle Columbia roared into the Florida sky Friday morning, beginning an 11-day mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission had originally been delayed a day because of unusually chilly weather, but everything was "go for launch" this morning. Columbia lifted off at 1122 GMT (6:22am EST) and is scheduled to meet up with the telescope early Sunday morning.

After much anticipation, an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana last night, carrying the European Space Agency's Envisat environmental monitoring satellite into an 800km orbit. Once it reaches its final orbit, the 8000 kg Envisat will observe the Earth's environment using ten instruments which measure the state of the land, ocean, ice cover and atmosphere. This is the first launch of an Ariane 5 since a problem last July that placed two satellites into incorrect orbits.